


Direction Volume 1: Sam

by VelvetSky



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Drabble Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-03-17
Updated: 2008-03-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 06:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17823212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VelvetSky/pseuds/VelvetSky
Summary: I took up a drabble writing prompt table. Theme of the table is Direction and Sam is my chosen subject for this.





	1. A Guide for Life

**Author's Note:**

> A collection of Drabbles on the theme of Direction featuring Sam Winchester. Written from a prompt table from an old LiveJournal group circa 2008.
> 
> The drabbles aren't technically connected, though they all are intended to fit within Supernatural Canon (at least as canon stood back in 2008-ish (circa season 4?). But the timing of each drabble varies from pre-series to fitting somewhere into in between times from episodes. 
> 
>  
> 
> The prompt for the first one was: Compass

Sam could read a compass practically before he could read real books. His father said it was something ‘every man should know’. Though at five, one could hardly be considered a man yet. It was something that John felt would help keep Sam safe. He could always find his way, even if he was lost in a strange place without his family to guide him. He had little real need in life to read a compass to find his way, just a few occasions. As a life lesson though, it had guided him on more occasions than he could count.


	2. This Can't Be the Destination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: Destination

Four years ago Sam would have said right now he would be marrying Jessica and finishing Law school. Three years ago he would have thought he would be back in school after killing the thing that killed Jess. Two years ago he would have figured he would be chasing down nightmares with his brother. Even a year ago, Sam said that he would figure a way out of this deal Dean made. Now Sam knelt, clutching his brother’s body. Even though he had lived the path that brought him here, Sam had no idea how he had reached this place.


	3. Westbound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: West

His father told him to go and not come back, so that was what he did. Sam found his way to the bus station and hopped the first Greyhound headed west from where he was, with just a backpack and a duffel bag. It would have been a day and a half to wait for the next bus to the San Francisco Bay Area, but he had to get out of there. So there he was, on a bus bound for Reno, because it was close enough to where he was going, and far enough from where he had been.


	4. Middle of Nowhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: Deserted

Dean had pulled over to ‘take a leak’, leaving Sam sitting in the car. They were in the middle of nowhere on some deserted old two lane highway. Some bushes, a couple trees, and not much else. Last car he saw was fifty miles ago, last gas station was eighty or so. They had been tailing a case for a week that up and vanished in Boise. Now they were just driving. It was funny, the feeling these deserted places had. Freedom of the open space, but the confinement of being isolated. Sam felt a oneness with places like this.


	5. Life is a Journey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: Journey

Sam had always liked the notion that life was a journey, not a destination. It meant that life was not about attaining one thing, it was about experiencing everything he could. Unlike his father, who’s life was all about one goal. His journey carried him away from his family, to college, love, and thoughts of a future that held seemingly limitless possibilities. But those possibilities vanished that November night. After, Sam tried clinging so hard to some notion of what he had, that he did not realize he had found another journey, with Dean. A journey back to being brothers.


	6. Behind the Wheel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: Drive

It was a somewhat rare thing when Sam got behind the wheel of the Impala, especially considering how much time they spent in the car. It was usually only when Dean was too beat to drive, either tired beat, or beat up, beat. Which often meant it was quiet while he drove, just a little light inhale here and there from the seat next to him. It was a time Sam could think, or sometimes not think. He would just let himself get lost in the feeling of driving, a breeze from the window, and the sound of the engine.


	7. This Will Work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: Absolute

Two weeks into freshman year, Sam was still struggling to make some friends. Classes were fine, he had always been smart. Sam wanted more from this place though than simply the education. He wanted the hope of a life not dictated by his father. Sam had left with such resolve, but it was hard in moments to be so alone. No one here was like him, and maybe they all could see that. Sam refused to give up, besides, there was no going back now. When his roommate returned, Sam was going to find out where the guy was from.


	8. Meet the Parents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: Embark

‘They will love you, just relax.’ That was what she said when they got out of the car in front of the very nice Palo Alto home. Jessica seemed so certain her parents would adore him, but Sam was more than a little wary. This was completely new territory for him. He had never had a real girlfriend before, and never met parents before. But she was a local girl, and after four months of dating, her parents wanted to have dinner with them. Jessica pulled on his hand, and Sam hoped he was smiling when the front door opened.


	9. No Stopping This Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: Ride

The twenty minute ride from the hospital to that field, with their father’s body in the back of the truck they ‘borrowed’ from the parking lot, felt like the longest ride ever. No radio, no talking, just the hum of the engine. Sam kept glancing at Dean, but his brother refused to look anywhere other than the road. He may have fought with his father, but he still loved the man. The tears burned his eyes, as he searched for something to hold onto. Sam felt like he was on some horrible carnival ride that he could not get off.


	10. Constant Companion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: Sky

Sam looked up to the sky, his head resting against the back window of the Impala. Dean was sitting up front as he often did while his father drove. Where they were going, Sam was not sure, he was never sure. He just knew it meant he would probably be changing schools again, just as he was getting to know some people at the last one. There would be new faces, new town, new everything. That was one thing Sam loved about the sky, no matter where he was, it was always there, one of the few constants in life.


	11. More Than the Rising Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: East

Sam hardly ever ran late, but he was that Tuesday morning. It was just the second week of Spring term, and he was running late to his English class that started at eight. That was when he saw her, in the same hurry he was. The early morning sun made her hair shimmer. He almost had to stare into the sun to look at her. Then she smiled at him and Sam almost forgot for a moment about class, until she said something. She had seen him in class, and was glad she would not have to sneak in alone.


	12. Free as a Bird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was: Fly

Watching a bird sailing overhead, Sam thought how great it would be to have some kind of ‘super power’. He loved all those superheroes who could fly, or move things with their minds, or see the future. Of course, most little six year old boys thought the same thing, because it would be so cool to be ‘special’ that way. Sam also thought it would just be fun, to glide on the breeze. Sam could feel all the stress his father and brother carried around, and it seemed like those birds were so free. Able to go wherever they wanted.


	13. The Joy of Soccer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was: Earth

Sam could taste the grass when he fell, but he popped back up again. Running after that kid who had taken the soccer ball from him. He saw all the parents and families lined up on the sidelines but knew his father and brother were not among them. They were off hunting something or another. Sure, it would have been nice to have a normal family, like all the other kids. But it was not going to stop Sam from doing this for himself. There was too much life on this earth to experience, to spend every moment chasing ghosts.


	14. Thanksgiving Never Came

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was: North

Thanksgiving that year was supposed to be amazing. They were going to spend the long weekend with Jessica’s grandparents. They had a place up north, in Wine Country. The rolling hills and tall trees were such a beautiful setting. Sam had been planning to propose to Jess there. Not in front of everyone, but someplace quiet, so it would be easy to share the news after with her family. They were all such warm, caring people, Sam had been excited at the prospect of becoming part of that family. Until his own family’s demons put an end to that plan.


	15. A Simple Experience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was: Borders

Sam had crossed the borders of every state in the lower forty-eight, but there were a lot of things he had never seen. Things that other people traveled miles just to get a look at. He rarely got a moment to just stop and enjoy the simple wonders along the way. Really the only time he had was in college. He had walked on the boardwalk, and the Golden Gate Bridge, seen the view from Coit Tower, because he could. Jessica had said it was an experience. Sam missed that sometimes, just stopping a moment to enjoy a simple experience.


	16. Search for Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was: Open Road

Sam had felt his heart sink when he saw Jess on the ceiling. It would have been bad enough if she was the only thing he lost that night. But the life he had worked for, fought for, was lost with her. Maybe even then, Sam knew he would never really be able to go back. Fate had intervened and made it clear that a ‘normal’ life was not an option. So he had taken to the road with Dean. Sam needed to find the answers that were somewhere out there, he hoped, if he wanted any life at all.


	17. Won't be Pushed Around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was: Cornered

Sam was still the new kid in fifth grade, sitting alone on a bench near the library. He did not see the hand until it yanked the book from him. Sam jumped up and found two boys staring back, his book tossed to the ground. One boy gave Sam a poke. He had always tried to be rational with people, but these boys clearly did not think rationally. Sam saw no other choice, he was cornered. When the boys tried to grab him, he used what his father had taught him about fighting, and knocked those bullies on their backs.


	18. The Usual Detour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was: Detour

It was just another hole in the wall bar along some dusty highway. But those were Dean’s favorite places to hustle a few rounds of pool. No one was really a regular, and they almost never saw it coming. This one Sam saw coming though. The blonde at the bar, someone had a claim on her. When the guy started swinging, it turned into a full on bar brawl. Sam of course hopped up to help his brother out, and at the height of the chaos, they ducked out the back and hopped back in the Impala, eight-hundred bucks richer.


	19. Sweat it Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was: South

Fourteen, stuck in some dank motel in Arizona while his dad and Dean were hunting something or another. Too hot to think, which made reading a book hard. Sam hated the desert southwest in July. He was trying though, sitting next to a little fan the motel provided since there was no air conditioning. His father said in a couple years Sam would be ready to go hunting with them, but that idea was not all that appealing to him. Between hunting some crazed spirit and sweating in a motel room with a book, Sam would pick the motel room.


	20. Direction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was: Writer's Choice and I went with the overall theme, Direction.

Sam had always had direction in his life. Direction, it seemed, away from his family. Always pulling against his father and the ‘family business’. Sam wanted his own life, and was willing to leave behind his family to do that. But then his father was gone, and Dean had been hanging by a frayed thread. The thought of having to go it alone was terrifying and lonely. Sam found he did need his family, a lot more than he ever expected to. He had not realized how much it all meant to him, until he had nearly lost it all.


	21. Pulled Back In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was an extra bonus that apparently came from the Direction Drabbles for Sam. I don't recall how/why or if it was meant to be filling a prompt and I just liked another better. But here it is anyway.

Sam wondered several times, as he looked out the window along Route 99, how he had let Dean drag him into this. He could not seem to say no to Dean, not when he asked the way he had. He acted like he needed the help, even though Sam thought his brother was probably perfectly capable of doing this himself. Even though his family drove him crazy, he still cared. It was just a weekend, so he was going to try and find his dad, even if it had been over two years since he last spoke to the man.


End file.
